Jared McCain shares his morning recovery routine — including meditation, journaling, and no social media
Jared McCain’s injury hasn’t stopped him from sharing social media content. Most recently, he’s been taking fans through his recovery from a torn meniscus.
The Sixers recently announced that Jared McCain would miss the remainder of the season following left knee surgery to repair his torn meniscus. But the 20-year-old rookie sensation and TikTok star is still trying to remain productive during his time off — and, of course, documenting it along the way.
He’s posted several videos of his recovery process so far, most recently sharing the thing that starts it all: his morning routine.
McCain’s day starts the same as any typical morning: He wakes up at 9 a.m., takes off his mouth tape, goes to the bathroom, takes out retainer, and hops in a cold shower. Nothing too special here. But the rookie does have one rule — absolutely no social media while he wakes up. McCain says, “it’s detrimental to your health to go on social media first thing in the morning.”
“I like self-growth,” he said in the video. “I like feeling productive in the morning. When you just wake up and go on your phone, I feel like it’s a one-way train to brain rot.”
Rather than being consumed with social media, McCain takes the time to repeat daily affirmations in the mirror every morning — telling himself how great he is. Affirmations and journaling have become one of the more recent additions to his morning routine. He got the idea during COVID-19 from productivity expert and YouTubers Ali Abdaal and Matt D’Avella.
After the former Duke star makes his bed, he writes in one of his four journals. On the cover of one of his everyday journals are two of his “favorite things in the world” — Drake and Disney.
“It’s cool to look back on these,” McCain said. “Like, this was in January of last year. I did have my best game in college and I just said, ‘Keep going for two more months and you’re going to be in the NBA draft.’ It’s cool to look back on and see what I was feeling at these points in my life.”
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After his first journal session, he uses his second journal for manifesting — using the 3-6-9 method. McCain writes down a mantra three times in the day, six times in the evening and nine times at night. One of the mantras he was writing was, “I will be the 2025 Rookie of the Year.”
The 6-foot-3 guard out of Duke was on the verge of achieving his goal before suffering his knee injury. The rookie averaged 15.3 points and 2.6 assists while shooting 38.3 percent from beyond the arc in 23 games. With his run for Rookie of the Year cut short, McCain now has a new mantra — “I will be the greatest.”
Through journaling, meditation, and visualization, McCain plans to achieve this new goal. He said meditates for 10 to 15 minutes and visualizes for five to 10 minutes as his leg is propped up resting. Part of McCain’s visualization includes the image of a healed meniscus.
Although McCain’s season ended early, the young guard appears to still be focused on improving himself for the future — and it all starts with his productive morning routine.